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The development of stable, low-cost, and highly efficient electrocatalysts for the N2 reduction reaction (NRR) process is challenging but crucial for ammonia production. Herein, we demonstrate the synthesis of pyrite nanoparticles wrapped by graphene oxide (FeS2@GO) acting as a highly efficient NRR catalyst in a wide pH range. The FeS2 nanoparticles are uniformly dispersed across the GO nanosheet, thus leading to the fine exposure of active sites, the promotion of charge transfer, and the increment of a contact surface area, which are all beneficial for a desired catalyst. In the meantime, the low-coordinated Fe atoms are activated as highly active sites, which is in favor of the enhanced electrochemical performance for the NRR. Furthermore, density functional theory (DFT) calculations illustrated that the high activity of N2 reduction over the FeS2@GO catalyst arises from the well-exposed Fe active sites and the increment of charge density at the valence band edge. Benefiting from the well-optimized interface, the barrier of the addition of the first hydrogen atom to N2 forming *NNH species as the potential-determining step is as low as 0.93 eV in N2 electroreduction. The electrochemical test results reveal that, as expected, FeS2@GO exhibits high Faradaic efficiencies (4.7% in 0.1 M HCl solution and 6.8% in 0.1 M Na2SO4 solution) and advanced NH3 yields (78.6 and 27.9 μg h-1 mgcat.-1 in 0.1 M HCl and 0.1 M Na2SO4 solutions, respectively) in both acid and neutral conditions. This work offers a new avenue for exploring novel electrocatalysts, which has great promise to accelerate the practical application of the NRR.

RNA alternative splicing (AS) is prevalent in higher organisms and plays a paramount role in biology; therefore, it is crucial to have comprehensive knowledge on AS to understand biology. However, knowledge is limited about how AS activates in a single plant and functions in a biological process. Ginseng is one of the most widely used medicinal herbs that is abundant in a number of medicinal bioactive components, especially ginsenosides. In this study, we sequenced the transcripts of 14 organs from a 4-year-old ginseng plant and quantified their ginsenoside contents. We identified AS genes by analyzing their transcripts with the ginseng genome and verified their AS events by PCR. The plant had a total of 13,863 AS genes subjected to 30,801 AS events with five mechanisms: skipped exon, retained intron, alternative 5'splice site, alternative 3' splice site, and mutually exclusive exon. The genes that were more conserved, had more exons, and/or expressed across organs were more likely to be subjected to AS. AS genes were enriched in over 500 GO terms in the plant even though the number of AS gene-enriched GO terms varied across organs. At least 24 AS genes were found to be involved in ginsenoside biosynthesis. These AS genes were significantly up-enriched and more likely to form a co-expression network, thus suggesting the functions of AS and correlations of the AS genes in the process. This study provides comprehensive insights into the molecular characteristics and biological functions of AS in a single plant; thus, helping better understand biology.

In comparison with the traditional Haber–Bosch process, the electrocatalytic nitrogen reduction reaction (NRR) with high purity and sustainability became a popular process to satisfy the demand of ammonia. However, the strong competing reaction (hydrogen evolution reaction, HER) and low reaction efficiency hinder the practical applications of NRR. Thus, the development of advanced NRR catalysts by regulating the electronic structure and the activity of single active sites is urgent. Here, in our study, vanadium-doped NiS2 (V–NiS2) nanospheres with abundant active sites were first proposed in the NRR field, which exhibited excellent catalytic activity with a high NH3 yield (47.63 μg h−1 mg−1cat., at −0.45 V) and good faradaic efficiency (FE) (9.37% at −0.35 V) in a 0.1 M HCl solution. Moreover, V–NiS2 also performed desired selectivity and stability. This study provides a pathway to design advanced NRR catalysts for practical applications.

The development of earth-abundant and high-efficiency electrocatalysts for overall water splitting is highly fascinating and still presents a challenge caused by the low activity for both the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) at the same time. In this paper, active cobalt-doped pyrite nanospheres with a porous structure are fabricated for the first time as advanced catalysts for water splitting in an alkaline solution. With the incorporation of cobalt atoms, the electronic structure of pyrite is well-tuned, with high conductivity as well as more active sites being obtained, which finally results in a superior bifunctional water splitting performance. Only 1.60 V is required to reach the current density of 10 mA cm−2, which is smaller than that of other transition metal sulfides.

The fluorination of 6-substituted 2-aminopyrazines with Selectfluor in the presence of Ag2CO3 is established under mild conditions. This method selectively produced the fluorinated 2-aminopyrazine derivatives in fair to high yield. The regioselectivity of this reaction strongly depends upon the substituent on the 2-aminopyrazines. The transformation of the fluorinated 2-aminopyrazine 3 h into a bioactive compound was discussed as well.

Selective fluorination of 4-substituted 2-aminopyrimidine derivatives with Selectfluor in the presence of Ag2CO3 is presented. The substrates are 4-aryl- or vinyl- or amine-substituted 2-aminopyrimidines. This method gives 4-substituted 5-fluoro-2-aminopyrimidines in fair to high yields with excellent regioselectivities. 5-Fluoro-4-(pyridin-3-yl)-2-aminopyrimidine was transformed into 5-fluoro-N-(2-methyl-5-nitrophenyl)-4-(pyridin-3-yl)pyrimidin-2-amine in the synthesis of fluorinated imatinib base.

Transition metal oxides have attracted tremendous attention as active and stable electrocatalysts for hydrogen or oxygen evolution from water splitting. However, their application as bifunctional catalysts for overall water splitting is still hindered by their limited activity. In this paper, via the surface defect engineering strategy, a bifunctional electrocatalyst based on oxygen vacancy enriched CoFe2O4 (r-CFO) nanosheets was successfully fabricated, exhibiting desired overall water splitting activity. DFT calculations demonstrated that benefitting from the incorporation of oxygen vacancies, the adsorption energy (Eads) of H2O and the Gibbs free energy change for hydrogen adsorption (ΔGH*) are both well optimized, leading to the fine modulation of active site activity. Meanwhile, along with oxygen vacancy doping, the density of states across the Fermi level increased as well, which would be conducive to fast electron transportation. As expected, the r-CFO catalyst afforded obviously lower overpotentials of 280 mV and 121 mV to achieve a current density of 10 mA cm−2 for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) and hydrogen evolution reaction (HER), respectively. Furthermore, r-CFO exhibited excellent overall water splitting activity with a voltage of 1.53 V to reach a current density of 10 mA cm−2. This work highlights the vital role of surface defect engineering based on transition metal oxides toward advanced electrocatalysts.

Panax ginseng C. A. Meyer is a kind of renascent herb that belongs to the genus Panax in the family Araliaceae. It is a traditional Chinese precious herbal medicine with a long history of medicinal use. Ginsenoside Rb3 is one of the important active ingredients in ginseng and has important physiological activity in the treatment of many diseases. In this study, we screened and systematically analyzed the candidate genes related to ginsenoside Rb3 synthesis through bioinformatics methods, discussed the functions, expression patterns, and interactions of the genes related to ginsenoside Rb3 synthesis, and finally, selected seven genes, mainly PgRb3, that directly contribute to the synthesis of ginsenoside Rb3. This study provides a reference for revealing the expression rules of ginsenoside Rb3 synthesis-related genes and elucidating the regulatory mechanism of methyl jasmonate, lays a theoretical foundation for the research of ginsenoside Rb3 synthesis, and provides theoretical and technical support for the factory production of ginsenoside monomer saponins.

SPL (SQUAMOSA promoter binding protein-like) gene family is specific transcription factor in the plant that have an important function for plant growth and development. Although the SPL gene family has been widely studied and reported in many various plant species from gymnosperm to angiosperm, there are no systematic studies and reports about the SPL gene family in Panax ginseng C. A. Meyer. In this study, we conducted transcriptome-wide identification, evolutionary analysis, structure analysis, and expression characteristics analysis of SPL gene family in Panax ginseng by bioinformatics. We annotated the PgSPL gene family and found that they might involve in multiple functions including encoding structural proteins, but the main function were still focused on the binding function. The result showed that 106 PgSPL transcripts were classified into two clades - A and B, both of which respectively consisted of three groups. Besides, we profiled PgSPL transcripts&rsquo, genotypic, temporal, and spatial expression characteristics. Furthermore, we calculated the correlation of PgSPL transcripts in the 14 tissues of a 4 years old ginseng and 42 farmers' cultivars farmers&rsquo, cultivars of 4 years old ginsengs&rsquo, roots with both results showing that SPL transcripts formed a single network, which indicated that PgSPLs inter-coordinated when performing their functions. What&rsquo, s more, we found that most PgSPL transcripts tended to express in older ginseng instead of younger ginseng, which was not only reflected in the expression of more types of SPL transcripts in older ginseng, but also in the higher expression of SPL transcripts in older ginseng. Additionally, we found that four PgSPL transcripts were only massively expressed in roots. According to PgSPL transcripts&rsquo, expression characteristics, we found that PgSPL23-35 and PgSPL24-09 were most proper two transcripts to further study as ginseng age&rsquo, s molecular marker. These results provide the basis for further elucidation of the PgSPL transcripts&rsquo, biological function in ginseng and ginseng genetics improvement and gene breeding in the future.

Background Jilin ginseng, Panax ginseng , is a valuable medicinal herb whose ginsenosides are its major bioactive components. The ginseng oxidosqualene cyclase ( PgOSC ) gene family is known to play important roles in ginsenoside biosynthesis , but few members of the gene family have been functionally studied. Methods The PgOSC gene family has been studied by an integrated analysis of gene expression-ginsenoside content correlation, gene mutation-ginsenoside content association and gene co-expression network, followed by functional analysis through gene regulation. Results We found that five of the genes in the PgOSC gene family, including two published ginsenoside biosynthesis genes and three new genes, were involved in ginsenoside biosynthesis. Not only were the expressions of these genes significantly correlated with ginsenoside contents, but also their nucleotide mutations significantly influenced ginsenoside contents. These results were further verified by regulation analysis of the genes by methyl jasmonate (MeJA) in ginseng hairy roots. Four of these five PgOSC genes were mapped to the ginsenoside biosynthesis pathway. These PgOSC genes expressed differently across tissues, but relatively consistent across developmental stages. These PgOSC genes formed a single co-expression network with those published ginsenoside biosynthesis genes, further confirming their roles in ginsenoside biosynthesis. When the network varied, ginsenoside biosynthesis was significantly influenced, thus revealing the molecular mechanism of ginsenoside biosynthesis. Conclusion At least five of the PgOSC genes, including the three newly identified and two published PgOSC genes, are involved in ginsenoside biosynthesis. These results provide gene resources and knowledge essential for enhanced research and applications of ginsenoside biosynthesis in ginseng.

New chiral sulfinamide ligands made from salicylic acids and chiral tert-butanesulfinamide was utilized in Pd-catalyzed asymmetric allylic substitutions of ethyl 2-fluoroacetoacetate, which afforded the fluorinated allyl products with up to 98% yield, 94% ee, and 2.2:1 dr. Both sulfoxide and hydroxyl group on the sulfanilamide ligands are ­crucial for enantiocontrol in the Pd-catalyzed allylic alkylations of ethyl 2-fluoroacetoacetate.

An efficient trifluoromethylthiolation reaction of arylboronic acids with (bpy)CuSCF3 in the presence of oxygen at room temperature is described. This method produces a variety of aryl trifluoromethylthioether derivatives in good to high yield. The mechanism of this trifluoromethylthiolation is discussed as well.

The APETALA2/Ethylene Responsive Factor (AP2/ERF) gene family has been shown to play a crucial role in plant growth and development, stress responses and secondary metabolite biosynthesis. Nevertheless, little is known about the gene family in ginseng (Panax ginseng), an important traditional medicinal herb in Asia and North America. Here, we report the systematic analysis of the gene family present in ginseng using several transcriptomic databases. A total of 189 putative AP2/ERF genes, defined as PgERF001 through PgERF189. The 93 PgERF genes that have the complete AP2 domain in their open reading frames were classified into five subfamilies, DREB, ERF, AP2, RAV and Soloist. The DREB subfamily and ERF subfamily were further clustered four and six groups, respectively, compared to the 12 groups of these subfamilies found in Arabidopsis. Gene ontology categorized these 397 transcripts of the 189 PgERF genes into eight functional subcategories, suggesting their functional differentiation and they have been especially enriched for the nucleic acid binding transcription factor activity subcategory. The expression activity and networks of the 397 PgERF transcripts have substantially diversified across tissues, developmental stages and genotypes. Then, the expression change of six PgERF genes randomly selected from DREB subfamily, i.e., PgERF073, PgERF079, PgERF110, PgERF115, PgERF120 and PgERF128 responding to cold stress suggesting that DREB subfamily genes played an important role in cold resistance of ginseng. Finally, we studied the responses of the PgERF genes to methyl jasmonate (MeJA). 288 (72.5%) of the 397 PgERF gene transcripts responded to the MeJA treatment, with 136 up-regulated and 152 down-regulated, indicating that most members of the PgERF gene family are responsive to MeJA. These results provide resources and knowledge necessary for family-wide functional analysis of the PgERF genes in ginseng and related species.

Ginseng is a valuable herb of traditional Chinese medicine and ginsenosides, the main bioactive components of ginseng, have been proven to have multiple functions in human therapies and health. Methyl jasmonate (MeJA) is an elicitor that has been demonstrated to have a vital influence on ginsenoside biosynthesis. Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) has been widely used in quantification of gene expressions. Here, we report the selection and validation of reference genes desirable for normalization of gene expressions quantified by qRT-PCR in ginseng hairy roots treated with MeJA. Twelve reference genes were selected as candidate genes, and their expressions were quantified by qRT-PCR, and analyzed by geNorm, NormFinder and BestKeeper. CYP and EF-1α were shown to be the most stable reference genes in geNorm, CYP was the most stable reference gene in NormFinder, and 18S was the most stable reference gene in BestKeeper. On this basis, we further quantified the relative expression levels of four genes encoding key enzymes that are involved in ginsenoside biosynthesis using CYP and 18S as the reference genes, respectively. Moreover, correlation analysis was performed between the quantified expressions of four genes and the ginsenoside content in MeJA-treated ginseng hairy roots. The results of relative expressions of the four genes quantified using CYP as the reference gene and their significant correlations with the ginsenoside content were better than those using 18S as the reference gene. The CYP gene, hence, was concluded as the most desirable reference gene for quantification of the expressions of genes in MeJA-treated ginseng hairy roots. This finding, therefore, provides information useful for gene research in ginseng, particularly in MeJA-treated ginseng hairy roots, which includes identification and characterization of genes involved in ginsenoside biosynthesis.

Ginseng, Panax ginseng C.A. Meyer, is one of the most important medicinal herbs for human health and medicine in which ginsenosides are known to play critical roles. The genes from the cytochrome P450 (CYP) gene superfamily have been shown to play important roles in ginsenoside biosynthesis. Here we report genome-wide identification of the candidate PgCYP genes for ginsenoside biosynthesis, development of functional SNP markers for its manipulation and systems analysis of its underlying molecular mechanism. Correlation analysis identified 100 PgCYP genes, including all three published ginsenoside biosynthesis PgCYP genes, whose expressions were significantly correlated with the ginsenoside contents. Mutation association analysis identified that six of these 100 PgCYP genes contained SNPs/InDels that were significantly associated with ginsenosides biosynthesis (P ≤ 1.0e-04). These six PgCYP genes, along with all ten published ginsenoside biosynthesis genes from the PgCYP and other gene families, formed a strong co-expression network, even though they varied greatly in spatio-temporal expressions. Therefore, this study has identified six new ginsenoside biosynthesis candidate genes, provided a genome-wide insight into how they are involved in ginsenoside biosynthesis and developed a set of functional SNP markers useful for enhanced ginsenoside biosynthesis research and breeding in ginseng and related species.

Chiral o -aniline sulfoxides serving as chiral sulfurous source were synthesized, from which new sulfonamide-pyridine ligands were made in three-steps. These compounds proved to be efficient S , N -ligands for enantiocontrol of palladium-catalyzed allylic substitutions of dimethyl 2-fluoromalonate. The induced effect of the Pd/ S , N -ligand catalyst on the enantioselectivity depends on the steric demand of the substituent on the sulfoxide moiety. This method provided the fluorine-containing allylic products with up to 94% ee .

Steam explosion lignin phenol formaldehyde (SEL–PF) adhesives were prepared by ternary gradual copolymerization. The parameters for the phenolate of steam explosion lignin (SEL) and preparation of SEL–PF adhesives were optimized. Under the optimum phenolate conditions, the phenolic hydroxyl content of lignin increased by 130%, whilst the methoxyl content was reduced by 68%. The SEL–PF adhesives were used to prepare plywoods by hot-pressing. The pH value, viscosity, solid content, free phenol content and free formaldehyde content of SEL–PF adhesives were investigated. The bonding strengths of the plywoods glued with SEL–PF adhesives were determined. The maximum SEL replacement percentage of phenol reached 70 wt%, and the properties of adhesives and plywoods met the Chinese National Standard (GB/T 14732-2006) for first grade plywood.

Exploring highly efficient and low cost bifunctional electrocatalysts for overall water splitting is of primary importance for renewable energy storage. Here, a novel amorphous CoFeOx(OH)y/CoOx(OH)y nanosphere (CFOH/COH) with unique core/shell structure was produced through a simple one-step solvothermal reaction, which exhibited enhanced activity for both oxygen evolution reaction (OER) and hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) across the water splitting process. Benefited from the unique core/shell character, the amorphous structure as well as the amorphous interface, the active sites of CFOH/COH were well optimized, thus finally leading to the activity enhancement. The CFOH/COH-1 catalyst (with the Co/Fe ratio of about 1) displayed the best performance among the tested catalysts, exhibiting the overpotentials of 0.324 V and 0.263 V to achieve the current density of 10 mA cm−2 for OER and HER in 1.0 M KOH solution, respectively, smaller than those of pure Fe- or Co-based amorphous catalysts. Furthermore, the CFOH/COH-1 exhibited robust catalytic activity with a voltage of 1.59 V to reach a current density of 10 mA cm−2, when adopted as the bifunctional catalyst for full water splitting. This work highlights the important role of amorphous transition metal based heterostructure for boosting the HER and OER performance.

Electrocatalytic nitrogen reduction reaction (NRR) to produce ammonia as a promising technology for alternative Haber-Bosch process attracted vast attention. Unfortunately, the absorption of N2 and the breaking of stable triple bond still handicap the practical application of NRR. Here in our work, the Fe-doped Ni2P was fabricated and adopted as the advanced catalyst for NRR firstly. Benefited from the porous nanosheets structure, both the active sites and the surface area were increased. Meanwhile, along with the iron doping, the active centers on Ni site were activated and the new active centers on Fe site were created, thus promoting the adsorption of N2 and the weakening of N N bonds. Specifically, the Fe-Ni2P exhibited excellent activity, with NH3 yield of 88.51 μg h−1 mg−1cat. and FE of 7.92% being obtained at -0.3 V (vs. RHE), highlighting the heteroatom doping strategy as a novel guidance to the design of advanced NRR catalyst.

The APETALA2/Ethylene Responsive Factor (AP2/ERF) gene family has been shown to play a crucial role in plant growth and development, stress responses and secondary metabolite biosynthesis. Nevertheless, little is known about the gene family in ginseng (Panax ginseng C.A. Meyer), an important medicinal herb in Asia and North America. Here, we report the systematic analysis of the gene family in ginseng using several transcriptomic databases. A total of 189 putative AP2/ERF genes, defined as PgERF001 through PgERF189, were identified and these PgERF genes were spliced into 397 transcripts. The 93 PgERF genes that have complete AP2 domains in open reading frame were classified into five subfamilies, DREB, ERF, AP2, RAV and Soloist. The DREB subfamily and ERF subfamily were further clustered into four and six groups, respectively, compared to the 12 groups of these subfamilies found in Arabidopsis thaliana. Gene ontology categorized these 397 transcripts of the 189 PgERF genes into eight functional subcategories, suggesting their functional differentiation, and they have been especially enriched for the subcategory of nucleic acid binding transcription factor activity. The expression activity and networks of the 397 PgERF transcripts have substantially diversified across tissues, developmental stages and genotypes. The expressions of the PgERF genes also significantly varied, when ginseng was subjected to cold stress, as tested using six PgERF genes, PgERF073, PgERF079, PgERF110, PgERF115, PgERF120 and PgERF128, randomly selected from the DREB subfamily. This result suggests that the DREB subfamily genes play an important role in plant response to cold stress. Finally, we studied the responses of the PgERF genes to methyl jasmonate (MeJA). We found that 288 (72.5%) of the 397 PgERF gene transcripts responded to the MeJA treatment, with 136 up-regulated and 152 down-regulated, indicating that most members of the PgERF gene family are responsive to MeJA. These results, therefore, provide new resources and knowledge necessary for family-wide functional analysis of the PgERF genes in ginseng and related species.

Hierarchical porous carbons (HPCs) were prepared from lignin (denoted as LAC) via traditional carbonization-activation method. The resulting LAC prepared from lignin was composed with macroporous cores, mesoporous and microporous channels. The preparation parameters were discussed in detail in this paper. The LAC activated with a KOH–carbon ratio of 4:1 at 800 °C displayed the highest BET specific surface area of 3775 m2 g−1. The unique hierarchical structure of LAC provided LAC with favorable ion transportation paths and high ion-accessible surface area, which enhanced the electrochemical performance of LAC as electrode material of supercapacitor. The specific capacitance of LAC was as high as 286.7 F g−1 at a charge–discharge current density of 0.2 A g−1 in 6 mol L−1 KOH, and still retained 207.1 F g−1 at a high charge–discharge current density of 8 A g−1.

An enantioselective allylation reaction of allylic carbonates with sodium sulfite (Na2 SO3 ) catalyzed by Ir complex was accomplished, providing allylic sulfonic acids in good to excellent yields with a high level of enantio- and regioselectivities. (R)-2-Phenyl-2-sulfoacetic acid, a key intermediate for the synthesis of Cefsulodin and Sulbenicillin, was synthesized as well.

Over-expression of the Candida drug resistance gene CDR1 is a common mechanism generating azole-resistant Candida albicans in clinical isolates. CDR1 is transcriptionally activated through the binding of the transcription factor Tac1p to the cis-acting drug-responsive element (DRE) in its promoter. We previously demonstrated that the combination of fluconazole (FLC) and berberine (BBR) produced significant synergy when used against FLC-resistant C. albicans in vitro. In this study, we found that BBR inhibited both the up-regulation of CDR1 mRNA and the transport function of Cdr1p induced by fluphenazine (FNZ). Further, electrophoretic mobility shift assays suggested that the transcription activation complex of protein-DRE was disrupted by BBR, and electrospray ionization mass spectrometry analysis showed that BBR bound to the DRE of CDR1. Thus we propose that BBR inhibits the FNZ-induced transcriptional activation of CDR1 in C. albicans by blocking transcription factor binding to the DRE of CDR1. These results contribute to our understanding of the mechanism of synergistic effect of BBR and FLC.

Chiral o -aniline sulfoxides serving as chiral sulfurous source were synthesized, from which new sulfonamide-pyridine ligands were made in three-steps. These compounds proved to be efficient S , N -ligands for enantiocontrol of palladium-catalyzed allylic substitutions of dimethyl 2-fluoromalonate. The induced effect of the Pd/ S , N -ligand catalyst on the enantioselectivity depends on the steric demand of the substituent on the sulfoxide moiety. This method provided the fluorine-containing allylic products with up to 94% ee .

We have conducted systematic structural modification, deconstruction, and reconstruction of the berberine core with the aim of lowering its cytotoxicity, investigating its pharmacophore, and ultimately, seeking novel synergistic agents to restore the effectiveness of fluconazole against fluconazole-resistant Candida albicans. A structure-activity relationship study of 95 analogues led us to identify the novel scaffold of N-(2-(benzo[d][1,3]dioxol-5-yl)ethyl)-2-(substituted phenyl)acetamides 7 a-l, which exhibited remarkable levels of in vitro synergistic antifungal activity. Compound 7 d (N-(2-(benzo[d][1,3]dioxol-5-yl)ethyl)-2-(2-fluorophenyl)acetamide) significantly decreased the MIC₈₀ values of fluconazole from 128.0 μg mL⁻¹ to 0.5 μg mL⁻¹ against fluconazole-resistant C. albicans and exhibited much lower levels of cytotoxicity than berberine toward human umbilical vein endothelial cells.

A direct fluorination of 1-(2,2-dibromovinyl)benzene derivatives using wet tetra-n-butylammonium fluoride (TBAF·3H2O) as either a base or a fluorine source in toluene was accomplished, which provided (Z)-1-(2-bromo-1-fluorovinyl)benzene compounds in up to 81% yields with high regioselectivities. This reaction results strongly depend upon the reaction conditions. The mechanism of this reaction was investigated as well.

A direct fluorination of 1-(2,2-dibromovinyl)benzene derivatives using wet tetra-n-butylammonium fluoride (TBAF·3H2O) as either a base or a fluorine source in toluene was accomplished, which provided (Z)-1-(2-bromo-1-fluorovinyl)benzene compounds in up to 81% yields with high regioselectivities. This reaction results strongly depend upon the reaction conditions. The mechanism of this reaction was investigated as well.

A highly efficient one-pot approach for the synthesis of carbonyl 2-amino-pyrimidines from 1,3-diynes and guanidine in the presence of Cs2CO3 and DMSO has been described. In these reactions, 1,3-diynes act as a precursor of buta-1,2,3-trienes and guanidine serves as the N–CN source for the construction of pyrimidines. This methodology proves to be a tandem regioselective heterocyclization of 1,3-diynes with guanidine and selective oxidation with DMSO.

A highly efficient one-pot approach for the synthesis of carbonyl 2-amino-pyrimidines from 1,3-diynes and guanidine in the presence of Cs2CO3 and DMSO has been described. In these reactions, 1,3-diynes act as a precursor of buta-1,2,3-trienes and guanidine serves as the N-C[double bond, length as m-dash]N source for the construction of pyrimidines. This methodology proves to be a tandem regioselective heterocyclization of 1,3-diynes with guanidine and selective oxidation with DMSO.

An enantioselective allylation reaction of allylic carbonates with sodium sulfite (Na2 SO3 ) catalyzed by Ir complex was accomplished, providing allylic sulfonic acids in good to excellent yields with a high level of enantio- and regioselectivities. (R)-2-Phenyl-2-sulfoacetic acid, a key intermediate for the synthesis of Cefsulodin and Sulbenicillin, was synthesized as well.

Lignin-derived hierarchical porous carbon (LHPC) was prepared through a facile template-free method. Solidification of the lignin-KOH solution resulted in KOH crystalizing within lignin. The crystalized KOH particles in solid lignin acted both as template and activating agent in the heat-treatment process. The obtained LHPC, exhibiting a 3D network, consisted of macroporous cores, mesoporous channels, and micropores. The LHPC comprised 12.27 at % oxygen-containing groups, which resulted in pseudocapacitance. The LHPC displayed a capacitance of 165.0 F g(-1) in 1 M H2 SO4 at 0.05 A g(-1) , and the capacitance was still 123.5 F g(-1) even at 10 A g(-1) . The LHPC also displayed excellent cycling stability with capacitance retention of 97.3 % after 5000 galvanostatic charge-discharge cycles. On account of the facile preparation of LHPC, this paper offers a facile alternative method for the preparation of hierarchical porous carbon for electrochemical energy storage devices.